DJ ‘too ill’ to report to hear animal cruelty charges

BANGKOK: A woman DJ called in to hear police charges of animal cruelty in the death of a kitten failed to show up yesterday (Oct 25), citing illness, and will be summonsed again to report on Monday (Oct 29).

Cat lovers give a basket of health products to a police officer at Phetkasem Police Station in Bangkok on Tuesday in support of the officers handling the pet cruelty case involving a female DJ. They include actress Chonlada Mekratree (right). Photo: Bangkok Post / File

Wararat Krasae, 30, instructed her lawyer to meet investigators at Phetkasem Police Station and seek a postponement until Nov 5, with a medical certificate confirming she was sick, Col Wutthichai Chaiyawat, the station superintendent, said yesterday.

The requested extension was too long and police will issue a second summons requiring her to report on Monday. If she again fails to appear a warrant will be issued for her arrest, Col Wutthichai said.

Police were still gathering evidence in the case, but security camera footage and witnesses’ accounts had the suspect putting a small kitten in her shoulder bag and then getting into a vehicle, he said.

Isaraporn Samutklalin, 29, has accused Wararat of brutally killing the adopted kitten during a live stream allegedly broadcast on a website that caters to fetishists on the dark web. She was allegedly paid in bitcoin for doing it.

Ms Isaraporn filed a complaint with Phetkasem Police in Bangkok. The accused DJ had handed over the dead kitten, saying it had been killed by a car..

A veterinarian for the animal rights group Watchdog Thailand who examined it reported that the internal organs had been removed, but there were signs it had in fact been run over.

However, Sawarawit Thaneeto, chief of the Livestock Department, said on Tuesday (Oct 23) that the vet is not a specialist in pathology, and the carcass must be properly examined by the local livestock office.

Wararat is also facing a complaint laid by Nopparat Khamburanawit, who claims she cooked up a story about how she lost one of two cats she sold to her, saying it “ran away” from a pet clinic.